A "Rebel" but Never a Terrorist

The NY Times News Service reports on the death of a Chechen who was responsible for the murder of hundreds of innocents:

EKAZHEVO, Russia - Shamil Basayev, the Chechen rebel leader responsible for terror attacks that led to the deaths of more than 800 people, was killed yesterday when a dynamite-laden truck in his convoy exploded next to a muddy field in this village of redbrick houses.

The blast that killed Russia's most-wanted man, who had a $10 million bounty on his head, appeared to have been an accident, according to regional officials. Basayev died along with three other extremists in Ingushetia - a Russian republic plagued by sporadic spill-over violence from neighboring Chechnya, where Russian forces have battled separatists for a dozen years.

Emphasis mine. The animal took credit for 800 murders including those in Beslan where 331 people were killed including many children.

Still the Times can't bring themselves to label him what he was; a despicable terrorist who got what he deserved. Note this contradiction:

Basayev inflicted misery even before the Soviet Union's demise - starting with the hijacking of an airliner in 1991, a plot aimed at attracting attention to the Chechen separatist cause.

But it was a secular movement according to the the Times:

Basayev, 41, was emblematic of the radicalization of the Chechen rebel movement - which began as a secular fight for independence - and its increasing domination by Islamic extremists.

The Times can't even bring themselves to say that the movement what a jihadist movement from the beginning. Typical.

Update: More "rebellious" attacks in Bombay where Kasmiri "extremists" have detonated seven bombs killing innocent civilians. Just don't call them terrorists.